Bactria is an ancient Greek city-state
founded by Alexander the Great in modern-day Afganistan. Bactria
thrived through a combination of good fortune and its strategic
location along the Silk Route. It was a Hellenistic island of
culture that lasted longer deep in the heart of Asia than the
Greek empire Alexander built in the Mediterranean. Because of
its unique geography, Bactria was a direct contact between the
Hellenistic world, Buddhism and the ancient civilizations of
Asia. With time and new conquerors, Bactria fell into ruin. With
the waning importance of the overland trade routes, it faded
into obscurity. The name means little more than a sentence in
the history of Alexander the Great. Yet some art of Bactria,
with its Hellenistic Buddha and Asiatic Hercules, survived. Now
that art too is lost forever.

A Dirge in 25
Panels

The reliquary hold 25 wooden removable
panels. Twelve panels have image of the art of Bactria and Twelve
panels have images/text about the conflict. The last was for
the hope of resolution. The earliest completed panels overlay
pictures of both art and war with symbols of peace drawn from
Greek, Buddhist, and Islamic sources. With each new attrocity,
a archaic Greek mourner who is literally tearing their hair overlayed
yet another panel. The motif comes from the . This famous geometric
period cemetary urn is an early work to show a distinctively
Greek style.

Image
from one panel

Display
case at Karpeles with some panels from Bactria is Burning

Bactria is Burning started as a protest against the looting and destruction
of the war in Afganistan and as a talisman for peace, slowly
as the Taliban hold on the country tighten, it became truely
a reliquary for the dead. A requiem to all the people and all
the beautiful things destroyed when ideology sunders the word
of God from the breath that animates its spirit.

May that breath temper
judgement. May that breath prompt just action. May that breath
have mercy on the shrouded ghost-women who live in Bactria's
ruins. May that breath have mercy on us all.

Links to Sites on the Internet about the conflict
in Afganistan and the ancient culture of Bactria